TV REVIEW: Game of Thrones - No One

Spoilers...

One of the interesting things about Game of Thrones as a show is its ability to laugh at your story expectations like Syrio Forel laughs at death. There were certain elements that were always going to happen like we imagined, for example Arya's victory against the waif, despite the "shock ending" of her being stabbed in the gut. But several things happened this week that are either going to surprise people or/and make them a bit angry.

In terms of the latter, it's doing away with two widely rumoured events in the blink of an eye. Firstly, Lady Stoneheart - while it was always a slim chance, the show played around with her book iconography by showing the hanging men, but immediately brought back Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr, both ready to head north to fight the real battle. Joining them temporarily was the Hound, who managed to get bloody vengeance on the killers of Lovejoy as well as taking our what I assume were four other BWB members. And in King's Landing, Tommen decided to dampen his mother's excitement at the possibility of having Ser Gregor win her freedom by banning trial by combat. I always thought the little king wouldn't survive the season, but it may end up being at the hand of his own mother. So no Stoneheart and no Cleganebowl. Hmph.

While Cersei no longer holds sway on her son, she certainly still casts a spell over Jaime, who spelled out his intentions to a captured Edmure Tully, namely that he just wanted to win so he could go home to her. And he did, thanks to Edmure first coming home to Riverrun and then convincing his men to surrender, despite the Blackfish's protestations that it was all a Lannister plot. Sadly, the Blackfish died off-screen, but not before sending Brienne and Pod off on a boat. Jaime's relationship with Brienne is interesting, he actually comes across something off less of a knob than he is, but unfortunately he is still nowhere near the redemption we thought he might be approaching. Maybe next season?

For once Tyrion's plans went awry, as the masters decided to take back Mereen via a whole fleet of ships, only for Dany to come and rescue them. Strangely this all very downplayed, with her landing on the roof and only a fleeting background shot of Drogon. But with her back there this hopefully sets in action her journey to Westeros with the iron fleet. Arya's arc - and fate - was a bit awkwardly resolved, but it was a nice touch to have her cut out the flame before beating the waif, before proclaiming to Jaqen triumphantly that she is "Arya Stark of Winterfell!". Given the big battle to come next week, maybe they don't want us to get fatigued.

It was a fine episode really, nice and thoughtful and a bit of a breather before next week's giant battle between Jon and Ramsay. The horror nut in me was happy to see a nice bit of gore from both Cleganes, notably the bit where The Mountain just ripped that dude's face clear off, and I imagine we're going to get a bit more with the Wildlings and the Boltons together, two groups that don't know the meaning of the word restraint. With any luck, this episode will be brought to us by the letters N and C and the number 17.

- Charlie

You can read Charlie's look at the previous episode, The Broken Man, here.

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TV REVIEW: Game of Thrones - Oathkeeper

The opening scene of Oathkeeper is perhaps one of my favourite moments in this season so far. It's such a simple one; Grey Worm is being taught to read and speak the Common Tongue by Missandei and through the process, the audience learns more about their backgrounds and the system of slavery in this world without heavy-handed exposition. The subsequent attack on Meereen is also brilliantly shot, with director Michelle MacLaren utilising the claustrophobic underbelly of the city to evoke the hellish slavery conditions before contrasting this in the wide shots of Dany as a conqueror looking over her new city. MacLaren is one of the best directors working on the show currently and this episode's strength lies with her. Even the scenes I wasn't particularly enamoured with were beautifully shot and composed.

The closing scene was also a sequence of note, the heavy blues contrasting sharply with the fiery oranges of the episode's opening. Any time the white walkers are seen in Game of Thrones, it's a reminder that, whilst everyone may be squabbling over the Iron Throne, the real threat is largely beyond the Wall and their numbers are growing. In a big surprise, it turns out that White Walkers can turn babies in a stunning final scene that saw poor Craster's son's eyes turn icy blue. Even us book readers didn't know they could do that (though it's obviously part of Martin's wider plan; I can't imagine the writers would be able to throw something like that in without him noticing).

Other strong scenes included a revelatory moment between Margaery and Olenna, in which her part in the killing of Joffrey is revealed (well done to people who called that one). The female Tyrells are a wonderful creation, endlessly spiky and difficult to control. The only sad thing is it's likely we won't see much more of Diana Rigg with Olenna returning to Highgarden. She's been absolutely marvellous from start to finish and I can't think of anyone else who could have played the Queen of Thorns with such attitude. Margaery also proved her worth with her late night visit to Tommen's room, in which she met Ser Pounce and demonstrated to the audience exactly why they've made Tommen a bit older in the series. 

And then there is the rest of the episode, which I'm just not all that enamoured with. With the theme of keeping oaths across the episode, it's not surprising that Jaime became one of the main focuses but, first of all, let's deal with the one-handed elephant in the room. The director of last week's episode insisted that that scene in the sept was meant to be consensual (which somehow makes the entire situation worse) and so the thread of that narrative continues . For a show that has done so much right, Game of Thrones has dropped the ball in a big way on this one, not even anticipating that sections of their audience might interpret that scene differently. Even David Benioff has stated that it was Jaime 'forcing himself on her', which is a further example of this disconnect. If the creative team have differing opinions on this, where does that leave the audience? This episode is clearly working with the angle that it was consensual because in fact, it feels like that scene didn't even happen at all. Jaime's back to being his usual slightly-heroic complex self whilst Cersei returns to her dry, cynical view of the world. 

It makes any scene with Jaime in this episode troubling to say the least; for those of us in the audience who saw rape, we're suddenly being asked to consider Jaime as one of the complex heroes of the show again (which he has clearly been positioned to be, given his redemptive arc in the previous season and despite the pushing of Bran). His one scene with Cersei shows that their relationship is over in what is barely a blip in the wider narrative of the episode. Instead, Jaime's focus is on the oaths he made and his honour, both to Tyrion and to Brienne. Both of his scenes sparkled with the kind of witty dialogue that we've come to expect when the Lannisters are involved. Before last week's debacle, the scene with Brienne would have been something I would have lavished praise on. Now, it just makes me feel a little uncomfortable.

Elsewhere in the episode, pacing was once again a bit of an issue. It's another filler episode in which everyone is repositioned for the next Big Event and which begins to deviate a fair way from the book in question. I've been accommodating of the changes made in adapting the books so far, because largely they have made sense and streamlined the narrative to make it more coherent. However, in this episode, it feels like it has gone another way. With the expansion of the mutineers at Craster's Keep, it just feels like its starting to play for time rather than continue to take the story forward. We had even more filler this week with numerous scenes on the Wall in which we're reminded that Jon Snow is fighting prejudice in the ranks, the wildlings are really dangerous and Castle Black is under a great threat. Which is exactly where we were at the last time we were there. 

Now, however, we get to see more of the oft-mentioned mutineers, the ones who betrayed Lord Commander Mormont last season. It's another one of those scenes in which exposition takes place whilst naked women are raped in the background and men drink out of skulls. Burn Gorman was suitably odious in his role but the scene dragged interminably and there was still no actual attack on Craster's Keep (despite Jon talking about it for two episodes and finally assembling a team to go and take them on). It was largely here to remind us that a) the mutineers are Really Bad People (which we sort of knew already) and b) to set up the big final scene of the episode with the White Walkers as Craster's last child, a son, is sacrificed to them. 

Alongside these events, we had Bran warging with Summer and getting trapped at Craster's Keep, seeing Ghost trapped himself in a cage. The warg effects are nicely simple and yet effective and any scene with the direwolves is immediately 20% better. By the end of the episode, Bran's crew are trapped with the mutineers (who they don't encounter like this in the books) and it seems to be heading towards a Jon-Bran reunion. I'm intrigued to see how they play this in the coming episodes, because part of Jon's plight is that he believes that his entire family are dead. To receive confirmation that this isn't the case would throw up an interesting new dynamic for the character. 

The first half of any given Game of Thrones season is always largely set-up for the revelations that get thrown up in later episodes. For Oathkeeper, this was certainly the case, though this is the first time that it felt like it was dragging. I'm hoping that now the pieces seem to be in place, we get a little forward momentum in the next few episodes because, at the moment, it feels like aspects are stalling.

- Becky

You can read Becky's review of the previous episode, Breaker of Chains, here.

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TV REVIEW: Ripper Street - Our Betrayal Part 1

‘Our Betrayal, Part 1’, was by enlarge the Ripper Street episode we’ve been waiting for all series. With a strong character focus and a reasonably simple plot, free from overly flowery language and crowded narrative arcs, it was actually rather enjoyable to watch. And just as I was beginning to doubt I would ever type those words.

The tortured and bereaved Sergeant Drake (Jerome Flynn) having not been seen since the death of his wife six months ago, Inspector Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) and young Flight (Damien Molony) have been left to run H division without him. Despite Bennett never having seemed to play too vital a role in proceedings before, it seems that in his absence this is easier said than done. A jewellery conman is on the run, and it is left to Flight to find him. However, when the search takes him into the territory of Inspector Shine, played by Joseph Mawle with as effective a sly menace as ever, we are presented with a man who, at best, has divided loyalties, and at worst, is a traitor and a mole in the camp of the hand that feeds him.  Meanwhile, life gets even trickier for Jackson (Adam Rothenberg). Still living with Reid, having been kicked out by Lazy Susan – sorry, Long Susan (MyAnna Buring), it is understandably awkward when his trouble-making long lost brother turns up from South Africa sporting a rather large uncut diamond.

This diamond however, at least in Jackson’s eager eyes, could be the very thing to save Long Susan and her brothel from the slimy clutches of Silas Duggan (Frank Harper). Things haven’t improved much in that department since last week’s episode,  with Duggan moving into a room in, as he puts it, ‘his house’. His bargain to Susan remains on the table (thankfully that’s all he puts on the table) – namely that he will lift all debts should she agree to spend just ‘one night of pleasure’ with him. Yum. He has made it clear, too, that he wants no one but her. Susan is understandably concerned about this, as unlike poor former employee Rose (Charlene McKenna), who has been wandering Whitechapel in search of Drake for months, Susan knows ‘what it is like to lie with the man she loves’, and is anxious about selling her body –despite having built a career overseeing dozens of girls doing that very thing.

Despite the obvious hypocrisies of her position, however, the storyline is a moving one. In fact it’s been one of the better storylines of the series, as well as one of the most underused. Her final resolution on the matter is little short of heart-breaking, particularly as she has always been one of a very small number of women in the show with any kind of independence or freedom. To watch that being slowly eroded does not make for easy viewing. Her relationship with her estranged husband underpins it all of course, although again we’re left unsure whether their marriage is indeed broken beyond retribution. Set alongside the relationship between Rose and her beloved Bennet, we’re left wondering if there is any hope in Whitechapel at all for wives, husbands and would be lovers. Never fear though, Inspector Reid is on the case, with amorous feelings of his own… I don’t really want to discuss that any further as I found it more than a little awkward.

Moving on, then, to new boy Flight, who in all honesty as had plot device sewn into his waistcoat since he first stepped on the screen, particularly as he has been perpetually  picked up and dropped like a yo-yo depending on what else has been happening in the episode. To that end, his involvement in the betrayal was one of a few elements to the episode which did not feel wholly believable. There needed to have been at least a couple of signs along the way that he was not to be trusted, and, unless I nodded off for half the series, which admittedly is quite likely, there have been none. Also feeling unbelievable were the series of co-incidences which brought Bennet back to H division. Epic as the moment of his prodigal return felt, it was all just a little, or a lot, too convenient. I also found it rather amusing that it had seemingly  taken Rose six months to notice that Jackson was no longer living at the brothel, but in the grand scheme of all things Ripper Street that’s probably by the by.

Fingers crossed this momentum can be kept up for tomorrow night’s finale- that way I might even depart the series with a couple of positive things to say.

Jen

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TV REVIEW: Ripper Street - A Stronger Loving World

I would apologise at the lateness of this review of Ripper Street, ‘A Stronger Loving World’, but to be honest it’s taken me this long to get my head around the different broken fragments of the episode.

Racial tension began as the order of the day, when a Church is torched, leading to widespread blame of the Jewish community. A subsequent attack on a synagogue as well as some crafty pamphlet font comparison work (as you do) leads H division to investigate the possibility that both attacks were carried out by the same party. Rose (Charlene McKenna), after the discovery that Long Susan (MyAnna Buring) can no longer financially support her, left brothel for slightly less green pastures, which consisted largely of her drinking gin alone in a public house. Befriended by a mysterious cult-like group, Rose finds herself in an oddly luxuriously decorated abandoned building, with food and a roof over her head for as long as she needs it. Only the pages of religious doctrine littered about, as well as all the references to ‘Father’ suggest that anything sinister is afoot – but are the cult too good to be true? Meanwhile, Bella Drake (Gillian Saker), wife of Bennett (Jerome Flynn) mysteriously disappeared, only to return a day later with her strange long lost Uncle, Gabriel Cain, played be a gloriously Captain Hook-like be-bearded Paul Kaye. It’s up to Bennett and Rose to figure out what’s going on, conveniently bringing together the (vague) threads of the storyline in the process because, of course, they are were all connected.

In another vastly confusing episode, Paul Kaye was able to really stand out as the sinister cult leader, creating an artificial family of followers all of whom, naturally, adore him. He looked every inch the part (the inches, of course, being the beard) and was wholly believable as a man capable of manipulating not only poor innocent Bella but an entire group of people into a deluded suicide pact at his behest. Second only to this performance was that of Jerome Flynn, who was heart-breaking as the distraught newlywed who finds his happiness disappearing in front of his eyes almost as quickly as it materialised in the first place. It was just a shame that, having been so, er, shortlived, (bit of a spoiler there, I apologise), the happiness itself, in the form of Bella, didn’t quite pack the emotional punch it could have had she been a more established character. Again with Ripper Street, the detective’s wives are little more than expendable plot devices, doomed to further the action with graceful deaths and emotional breakdowns, but never to add anything to it. In a stunning act of self-awareness, however, Inspector Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) seemed to begin to realise this here, giving Bennett all the time he needed to mend his broken personal life. I couldn’t help but wish that this had been the focus of the storyline instead, but alas no such luck, especially with the homeless Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) drunkenly stumbling about the place like a dodgy Jack Sparrow impersonator.

With such a potentially interesting start, we were once again sent spinning off into a wild vortex of a tangent with this episode. As has so often been the case with Series 2 of this show, the episode we ended up with was completely different from the one we signed up for at the start of the show, to the detriment of any themes established in the first quarter of the episode. Present as ever was The Scene, in which all the confusing madness is explained, although here this served more to frustrate than inform.

I really hope it can get enough of a grip on one single narrative thread to make the final episodes work. With the recent announcement of the cancellation of Series 3, it would be cheering if the show could go out with more of a confident bang than a perplexed whimper.

Jen 

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TV REVIEW: Ripper Street - Threads of Silk and Gold

I hate to begin a review on a pun (this is a lie) but during Ripper Street Episode 5, ‘Threads of Silk and Gold’ I have to say I found said thread, in terms of the plot at least, rather difficult to get a hold of.

The episode began with a pair of young lovers, specifically a pair of young telegram messenger boys, discussing their plans to run away together- away from a society which does not accept them. Soon, however, we find ourselves in a case of mistaken identity, as another telegram boy is killed in one of the lovers’ places. Upon further, well inspection I suppose, of the victim, Inspector Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) and his team discover, through some potentially grisly post mortem examination from Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) that this boy, and presumably several of the others, were selling themselves to business men for a bit of money on the side. And so the plot thickens, leading our trio to the doors of the men who used the services of the telegram boys, particularly as one likely client, or companion as he seemed to prefer to think of himself, is now also dead. Reid and his men must consider the business affairs surrounding the situation in order to surmise what may be happening, leading them to the characteristically shady world of Whitechapel’s banking system. Presumably not a banking system much more reputable than the UK banking system of today.

There was much potential here. The social context of homosexual relationships in Victorian London, in a time when to love a member of your own sex was a harshly punished crime, was an interesting one to choose, particularly after the equally weighty themed ‘Become Man’. The show’s basis in contextual fact had a human face here, especially as the issue seemingly so troubled Captain Serious himself, our humble leader, Inspector Reid. Sadly, as is so often the case with Ripper Street, and I do tire of banging on about it (believe me) it felt like a wasted opportunity. There was no real spark to the episode (well there was, but it had nothing whatsoever to do with main plot – more on this shortly), nothing to incite the passionate response this issue so sorely deserved. It was left to Jerome Flynn’s thoughtful, respectful silence in the presence of the bereaved boy, towards the end of the episode, to convey all the sympathy and respect the episode just didn’t quite manage by itself. Don’t get me wrong, he did it rather well, we just needed more than one look from him and several moments of sympathetic blustering from his boss to feel that this had been executed efficiently.

 

Meanwhile, the loyal and trustworthy Reid was having problems of his own. Since it was revealed to the audience that his wife, Emily, has now been institutionalised due to her prolonged and ultimately delayed grief over the death of their daughter, not to mention the ‘false hope’ and betrayal from her husband, Reid has, in a staggering event of chronological convenience, been, well, flirting, frankly, with ‘Become Man’ MP Jane Cobden (Leanne Best). Much as the analytical nerd in my enjoyed the fact that the character featured in two episodes which make sense as a pair, particularly in terms of sexuality and character development, appearing the second to bring this theme to fruition, the whole thing just didn’t feel very Reid-like. Whilst he did have an affair in Series One, he was at least a tiny bit traumatised by guilt over that one, whereas now by contrast it seems that 30 seconds worth of dialogue about his poor (forgotten!) wife is the only license he needs to play tonsil tennis with another dark haired beauty. Given that the man struggles to make any decision with pondering it later over whisky with Bennett, seemingly wracked by something akin to guilt (although that may just be the earnestness again), this rapid emotional rebound just didn’t sit right with me.

On though, to the spark of the episode I mentioned earlier. Out of nowhere, almost at the end of the episode, after The Scene where all is revealed very quickly in hushed voices against an overly loud musical backdrop, came a scene the like of which I dare say we have not seen in Ripper Street before. Packing a huge, not to mention unexpected, emotional punch, came the seeming demise of the marriage between Long Susan (MyAnna Buring) and Jackson. Having discovered that he has gambled away what was left of her money in a misguided attempt to help her, Susan doesn’t rant, doesn’t rail, doesn’t throw a heavy household object at his head as we’ve seen her do before and like he expects, even asks her to, but simply, quietly, tells him to ‘get out’. Following on from her new found opinions and strength of character from Become Man, an episode I now definitely consider to definitely be the episode’s pair (if such decisions are indeed made at Ripper Street towers), this was a fascinating development.

In fact, ladies and gentlemen, I think that moment is a likely contender for the accolade I’ve just made up – moment of the series so far. It’s just a shame the rest of it was such a tangled mess of telegram uniforms, actors with confusingly similar haircuts and a devastating lack of thread – silk and gold or otherwise.

Ripper Street is next on Monday night, 9pm BBC One.

Jen

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TV REVIEW: Ripper Street - Dynamite and a Woman

Like many, if not all, Ripper Street episodes, ‘Dynamite and a Woman’ finished up as a very different episode to the one we all started watching. Good job it’s so clear and easy to follow then. Ahem.

When an Irish convict and bomber escapes from a police van seemingly by chance, with his police guard quite literally dropping dead on the spot, Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) have lots to investigate. Said convict, Aiden Galvin played with suitable fierceness by Stanley Townsend, subsequently murders a bigoted anti-Irish MP. Despite being put onto the trail of the Irish Republican Brotherhood by the ever-shouty Detective Abberline (Clive Russell), Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) sends conveniently Irish young newbie Flight (Damien Molony) off to gain the trust of Galvin’s daughter, beautiful redhead barmaid Evelyn (Charlie Murphy). Meanwhile, with the help of surgeon Homer Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) Reid and Bennett (Jerome Flynn) discover that Galvin’s guard was killed not by a sudden, unprompted heart failure, but by, and here’s the twist, electrocution. This catapults the team into a world of ferocious competition between the camps of AC and DC currents, live animal demonstrations and shady deals. Things only get more complicated when it turns out Evelyn has been receiving letters from America, from another man also claiming to be her father.

Got all that? Not to worry if not, there’ll be a moment about 45-48 minutes into the episode, a moment 

I have now come to recognise and refer to as The Scene, during which all will be revealed very quickly during a furtive conversation, typically between Reid and Bennett. Still spoken at a whisper, mind you.

Complications aside, this wasn’t too shabby an episode. The current Ripper Street trope of basing its storylines, at least vaguely, on fact, was carried off well here, with references to Eddison’s experiments with Topsy the elephant when working to promote electricity in the States. There was also a genuine, real life opportunity for new boy Flight to ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING. Which I’m sure was rather nice for him, especially as it meant he got to hang around a raucous pub and snog the barmaid, which must have been infinitely more fun for a young lad than an afternoon in a dingy police station with Reid and Bennett. Their short lived relationship was actually rather touching, particularly in light of her eventual departure for New York, and his reaction to both this and her instinct that he wasn’t who he said he was. Jackson and Long Susan (MyAnna Buring) were noticeably rather absent from this episode, presumably due to their heavy storyline in the previous one. This was a shame really, as their story arc was progressing rather interestingly, given her new found views and questioned loyalties. Here’s hoping she doesn’t go the way of the show’s Joseph Merrick, just another swiftly dropped bit part.

This was an interesting hour of drama, playing on some intriguing and innovative themes, and showing some genuine character development. As usual, however, it got bogged down in the detail and complexities. A marked improvement, still it would do well to learn that the simplest way of telling a story is often the best.

Jen

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